Covenant: The Djinni of the Howling Wind

In a palace that moves with the wind across the deserts lives a terrible djinni. Any Seer or sorcerer capable of finding his abode and willing to pay the price can share his knowledge.

Ranks & Improvements

Ranks cost as normal (see the Queen of no Court, p. 19). With each rank the sorcerer adds one to her Ceremonial Casting ability (see the Seer class, p. 30), thus increasing her sorcerous powers. In addition, choose one bone sorcery from the list below per rank:

Turn to sand. The sorcerer covers her body in glyphs and intricate patterns in preparation. To cast, expend a dose of Bone Salt and test Lore with the preparations still intact. On a 5+, the sorcerer turns to sand. The effect lasts for a time equal to the preparations; but can at any point be ended prematurely by the sorcerer. For each additional 5+, you may bring something or someone with you, or reactivate the sorcery once after interrupting it as long as the total time spent as sand doesn’t exceed the time spent in preparation.

When turned to sand, the sorcerer cannot move but can be swept away by strong winds or force or carried off at a wagon or similar. However, she can still hear and see like she would do in her normal shape. If some sand has been dispersed, it will return at walking speed when the sorcerer resumes her normal shape. Until fully reformed, the sorcerer is weakened at the referee’s discretion.

Wither. The sorcerer rotates an object counter-clockwise, or circle around it herself, and summons a spirit of decay in preparation. To cast, Expend a dose of Bone Salt and test Lore. For each 5+, the spirit is bound to you or something you hold and will do one bidding for you. Use this bidding to have either the object or one of similar size age instantly at a rate of one year per rotation.

Example: A sorcerer commands his palanquin to be carried at great haste around his enemy’s palace. When the slaves have done so a hundred times, she unleashes the sorcery. For each success her player rolls, the palace will age a hundred years. The player rolls three successes, and the palace withers three hundred years in an instant.

From Dust. The sorcerer summons a spirit host to craft any object out of sand, making it real for the duration of the spell. To cast, expend a dose of Bone Salt and test Craft. For each 5+, the sorcerer summons ghosts that works as a hundred skilled artisans or craftsmen for a single night and uses only sand as their material. The object they create lasts a time equal to the time spent on preparation.

Lighten. The sorcerer summons a host of carrier spirits to reduce the burden of an object. To cast, expend a dose of Bone Salt and test Guile. For each 5+, a single object has its weight reduced to a tenth. For example, one success means a wt 100 object becomes a wt 10 object, whereas two successes would make it a wt 1 object. The effect lasts for a period equal to the time spent on preparing the sorcery.

Tribute and Wrath

The Djinni is a jealous master, who craves his cut of every deal. Whenever a character in his Covenant ranks with another Covenant, even the Queen of No Court (i.e. gaining new class powers), the Djinni demands tribute. The size of the tribute depends on the current Covenant rank, as per the chart below:

Rank Tribute
1 2 m (120 s)
2 4 m (240 s)
3 8 m (480 s)
4 16 m (960 s)

If a character fails to pay such tribute, her player must immediately roll a six-sided die under or equal to her current rank. On a hit, the Djinni forgives her trespass, but on a miss she suffers its wrath.

When suffering the wrath of the Djinni, it will dispatch its spies to snare the traitor. Each time a character suffering the wrath of the Djinni accepts any kind of gift—no matter how trivial—her player must roll a d100. If the roll is equal to or lower than the crossed out Covenant Rank, the character is trapped by the Djinni’s spell and sucked into a small wooden box. There she must remain except when briefly summoned, until she has performed three heinous services for the Djinni.